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Genocide should not be synonymous with self defense
The right to resist and self-determination, which shall not be violated, is the basis of international laws, which political leaders are sworn to uphold (United Nations Resolution 37/43, Dec. 3, 1982). These political leaders have the power to end this deplorable and continued contravention of over 28 international laws and human rights violations by Israel but simply choose not to because the issue of genocide is now apparently too controversial for them.
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People sit by the fire at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on the eve of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan on March 10, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas. (AFP/Mohammed Abed)
I
t would seem impossible for Palestinian children to be murdered, Palestinians stripped of their access to basic human rights, forcibly expelled from land which is rightfully theirs, continually bombarded year after year, only for them to be met with silence from the international community that could have the power to aid them.
The right to resist and self-determination, which shall not be violated, is the basis of international laws, which political leaders are sworn to uphold (United Nations Resolution 37/43, Dec. 3, 1982). These political leaders have the power to end this deplorable and continued contravention of over 28 international laws and human rights violations by Israel but simply choose not to because the issue of genocide is now apparently too controversial for them.
After all, active subjugation for over 75 years is not something any community, or person, could take without an attempt at response for long. Oppression will always be met with resistance.
What if Palestinians seek liberation? They are vilified by the media and painted as savages, although they attempt to reclaim a fraction of the dues they are owed, and take back what is rightfully theirs by resisting an apartheid regime and state-sanctioned violence. And in the eyes of the occupiers, Palestinians will forever be relegated to a substandard human existence. This framing is not new, but remains just as effective in driving the narrative in favor of Israel.
What if Palestinians remain silent in the face of oppression? They die. This is not the "path of most resistance", this is the only path there is available to them. There is no equality or "two-state solution" with a state whose existence is built on the erasure or subjugation of others.
"A land without its people" is one of the most often cited quotes from Zionist literature. It is proof that the occupation and Palestine can never coexist. That Israel cannot exist without the erasure of Palestine and the obliteration of its people. There can never be a “two-state solution” when one state does not view the population of the other as human, much less as equals.
Decolonization is not an abstract but it is easy to denounce as an act of terrorism when it no longer aligns with the values of the western world. It should be an indisputable entitlement. No one has ever won freedom by appealing to the morality of the morally bankrupt. Resistance is not an aesthetic thing. It is a sanguinary, tragic and persevering fight for liberation by those who have been stripped of their right to justice. A liberation won off the backs of the beloved dead who were unjustly martyred in its name, the blood, sweat and tears of those left behind, and even at the cost of those who dared to take it from them.
